DeSantis wants more than $700 million to provide 5% across the board pay increases for nearly 97,000 state workers. Hard to fill critical positions, like the Department of Children and Family Services Child Protective Services unit would see a 10% hike.
Reggie Brady is a Senior Child Protector Investigator in Jacksonville. He said CPIs in his unit are working more than three times the recommended workload ( up to 40 families), and his office is losing investigators to private sector companies like Amazon.
AFSCME, the labor union representing 43,507 state employees welcomed the budget proposal as recognition that "state workers have been vastly underpaid for their experience and expertise, which has resulted in severe understaffing," said Vicki Hall, the union's president.
More: DeSantis' $115B budget comes with pay raise for Florida workers >>
